"Not Married" or "Never Married" option.
I do a LOT of Germany genealogy and there are many illegitimate children born in the 18th century! In about half of the cases, the parents marry later, but in the other half, they never marry. It would be really nice to have a NOT MARRIED option so that the relationships are clear (and so that others know that no marriage research is required).
I really appreciate the other Marriage options that have been added, but none of them work for these cases because there was no Annulment, no Common Law Marriage, and it is unknown whether or not they ever Lived Together. In these 18th-century cases, the couple had a child together out of wedlock and they never married; that is all that is known.
I'm not sure what "Not Married" means for temple work, so perhaps this is why it is not an option yet?
Thank you for your help!
Adrianne Erickson
Comments
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I found this in an article in the help section:
When recording a couple's information who were not married, do not enter a marriage date or place. If you want to indicate that the couple never married, enter that information in a note.
You can read the full article here: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/policy-on-sealing-a-deceased-couple-that-were-never-married-nor-ever-lived-together
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There were restrictions in parts of Germany on getting married. So couples had children before marriage. Frequently the person writing the birth/baptismal record would deliberately leave a space or make a line for the father, and later enter the father's name when the couple married. Sometimes that step would be neglected, especially if the couple emigrated. I have not personally found an example where the couple in Germany did not later marry. This did lead to problems with cultural norms for recent German immigrants. Expectations of marriage following pregnancy were not always met, leading to illegitimate children in this country.
Although the word generally used in the record translates as "illegitimate", it does not actually seem to have had the same connotation.
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